Friday, May 14, 2010

Löwenherz (Lionheart)

This is the name of the children's musical that Fiona was in this past weekend. Last year our neighbor Heike invited us to see her two six-year-old twins perform in a musical in Obertürkheim, but we couldn't make it then. Fiona started singing in the choir with the twins at the beginning of the school year and this musical is what has resulted. It was quite a feat for the 23 children and six adults involved.

Frau Kurz, who is the official church musician where the musical was rehearsed and performed seemed to have a very nice way of working with the kids. Here she is leading the audience in a post-performance rendition of the German version of "Happy Birthday" for one of the girls who was celebrating that day.

Here she is going over a couple of the pieces before the first performance. The cast included 5-13 year-olds. Again, quite a task for any team of leaders! They even took the two dozen children to an old renovated farm for a rehearsal weekend!

Minja and Katharina had worked on this stage before, and they convinced Fiona that she would have a good time. They were right!

The first evening Fiona sang in the chorus and was a star and fire. Here she and the other girls are getting ready to roast a renegade from the 14th century.

The music was written by a German high school teacher. It is quite good. The CD was on high rotation in our house over the past several months. Even Fynn can sing along with most of the songs.

During the second performance, Fiona had some lines and got to dress as a punker - spray-dyed hair, leather jacket and all - and say sassy things to the "teacher". She knew every cue!

In the second performance she sang in the chorus as well during the ensemble pieces.

She especially liked singing this song, "Wir sind die Könige" (We are the kings) about how she and her asocial punker friends are the gang in charge of that particular neighborhood. She likes performing the songs for our visitors!

The finale served as a good encore, during which the cast was joined by the adult directors. It was a very good closing number!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Julia

My last post was about still lifes. This one is about living life, moving life, stirring life, touching life. This life also has two lips (like the tulips), but she also has ten fingers and ten toes. Her name is Julia April Martin and joined our family on April 20. When I looked at the picture above (which we took on April 21), it dawned on me that we now have a big family. My mother raised three children. Both of my sisters have done it. Now it's my turn.
Of course we'll have some help.

Julia has been blessed with two loving elder siblings, Fynn and Fiona. Julia's big sister is very demonstrative with her affection, giving her kisses whenever she sees her. Fynn takes time out from reading his comics in the morning to say hi.

Their first peek at her in the hospital was precious. Luckily, Bianca was doing well and I had some time off from work, so we were all relatively relaxed and could take time to come together as a family.

After three days in the hospital, Bianca and Julia came home, where our little daughter was greeted by new smells, sounds, temperatures, humidity and rhythms. She mastered the new within 24 hours.

Of course it is easier to acclimatize when everyone is trying to make you feel at home.

Welcome to my lightroom!

Traveling along my daily path, certain things and people catch my eye. I try to capture these sights in a way that will help convey to others what I felt when I saw them.Here are some recent collections of these sights.